Despite tremendous efforts on isolation of pluripotent equine embryonic stem (ES) cells, to date there are few reports about successful isolation of ESCs and no report ofin vivodifferentiation of this important companion species. We report the induction of pluripotency in adult equine fibroblasts via retroviral transduction with three transcription factors usingOCT4, SOX2, andKLF4in the absence of c-MYC. The cell lines were maintained beyond 27 passages (more than 11 months) and characterized. The equine iPS (EiPS) cells stained positive for alkaline phosphatase by histochemical staining and expressed OCT4, NANOG, SSEA1, and SSEA4. Gene expression analysis of the cells showed the expression ofOCT4, SOX2 NANOG, andSTAT3. The cell lines retained a euploid chromosome count of 64 after long-term culture cryopreservation. The EiPS demonstrated differentiation capacity for the three embryonic germ layers bothin vitroby embryoid bodies (EBs) formation andin vivoby teratoma formation. In conclusion, we report the derivation of iPS cells from equine adult fibroblasts and long-term maintenance using either of the three reprogramming factors.
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